Substrate dust

I use flourite black sand as my substrate I've had plants in the tank now a little over a week now and at first growth was great its not so much anymore but it's steady. In due to fertilize in Tuesday. Anyways I have dust from the sand in all my plants. If I shake it off it goes in the water and some into the filter but most back on the plants. What can I do about that? I think it might be blocking some light but I'm not sure. Some of my plants are starting to get little reddish brown spots in the leaves. What could that be? If that's a fertilizer/mineral deficiency I can fix that but if its from blocked light idk what to do.

That's one of the biggest negatives I've heard about the f-sand versus the eco-c. Most people go with Eco because it doesn't require a rinse, but some people will rinse 1-2 times just for kicks.

The rinsing part of the sand can take forever & usually after 30-60 minutes most people just cease that activity & just add it to the tank & pray it will settle/filter will clean up the rest of the cloudiness.

I rinsed it THUROUGHLY I put it in a 5 gallon bucket filled it and stirred it with my hands about a minute or so and let it fill and drain clear. Then dumped all the water I could and repeated this process for about 2 hours. So idk maybe 15-20 times? It was time consuming and sucked but I knew it was necesarry.

I'm using seachem flourish brand. I was gonna use dry ferts but it was easier for me to acquire and store it since I have small children. I use nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and trace elements. I do what the bottles say except I only dose each feet once a week instead of the recommended dosage.

I take the water out using a plastic cup thatbinuse for aquariums only and when I replace the water I fill it on top of a plastic bag so as not to disturb the substrate. I haven't done a water change yet tho. Plants have only been in tank a week yesterday. Planning a 20% PWC bi-weekly or as needed. I test my parameters almost daily.

I'm using an Aquaclear 20 for filtration. Planning in getting a rapids pro mini canister soon tho. I live aquaclears as far as HOB filters go but it creates too much surface agitation and is releasing my CO2 I think. So in switching as soon as I get a few extra bucks.

If you think your AquaClear is disrupting the water too much, grab some filter floss or "pop-tart" type filter pad and stuff it around the outtake.

Sounds like you did EVERYTHING else properly.

If you don't have any filter media around, you can take one of your kid's stuffed animals & use the poly based stuffing from inside as a baffle as long as it doesn't contain any antimicrobial/antifungal stuffing.

Your 10 gallon looks good. I even like the part where you dumped barn stone on top of the diy cave.

If you baffle the filter & you still get cloudiness it's probably your pulchers stirring up/dancing in the substrate.

Wow, 2 hours of rinsing I applaud your effort. 20-30 minutes is the max I would have spent on that. The rest of the time would have been allocated to prepare a 5-6 course meal & with alcoholic beverages.

Not sure what else I can suggest but just try the filter baffle for now, you should be able to construct/install something within 5 minutes.

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